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Even the most innovative offices still have to gather for meetings to kick-off team projects, inform employees of new initiatives or disseminate other key information. However, staff meetings don't always have to be such a drag; there are ways to add fun and liveliness, even to those pesky Monday morning staff gatherings. After all, in most instances, staff members think best when they are relaxed. Consider a few ways to incorporate fun into the start of your next office meeting.

Significance

When all of your staff is gathered in one place, it can be easy for some employees to feel intimidated. Perhaps it is the thought of having to give a report or speak in front of such a large group. Or, maybe employees don't feel as comfortable because they don't know employees from other departments. Whatever the reason, when you start a staff meeting off with a fun activity, it breaks the ice and helps everyone to relax just a bit.

Benefits

When your staff is more relaxed, they are more open to coming up with innovative ways in which to tackle projects. Moreover, fun ways to start a meeting help to introduce staffers to one another that under normal circumstances might never interact. For instances, perhaps "Norm" from accounting may never have reason to talk to "Amy" in graphic design, but in an all-staff meeting, they had to work together to solve a riddle or share a fun fact. This gives your staff a cohesiveness it may not have had otherwise.

Examples

The Law Humorist website suggests giving out prizes to people at the meeting. Sure, you can do work-related prizes -- best productivity on a Monday or best project management from last week -- but kooky prizes are way more fun, especially to start a meeting. You can also start a meeting with a tune to match the theme of the gathering. For example, if you are having a meeting about generating new business and goals for the week, play the song "For The Love of Money" by The O'Jays. If your meeting is about bettering customer satisfaction, try "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. The music will loosen everyone up ahead of your staff conversation.

Considerations

Don't allow too much meeting time to be spent playing. After all, you still have goals that need to be accomplished when you have your staff gathered together in one place. Use the fun methods to break the ice in the meeting and the move on to important staff business. Also, be sure that any fun methods you use to kick off the meeting are inclusive and make everyone feel welcome; when you choose games based on things like physical strength, for example, then you may alienate those staffers that aren't athletically inclined.

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About the Author

Lynda Moultry Belcher is a writer, editor and public relations professional. She worked for a daily newspaper for 10 years and has been a freelance writer for more than 15 years. She has contributed to Divorce360 and Revolution Health Group, among other publications. She is also the author of "101 Plus-Size Women's Clothing Tips" and writes "Style At Any Size," a bi-weekly newspaper column.